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Lucy, Autherine (1929–)

Lucy grew up in Alabama and earned a B.A. in English from Miles College, a black institution, in 1952. That year, Lucy was the first African American accepted to the University of Alabama. After discovering her race, the university moved to block her enrollment. Thurgood Marshall and other lawyers sued the university, winning in the US Supreme Court in 1955. In Feb. 1956, violent mobs that protested her presence gave university officials cause to expel her, which her attorneys unsuccessfully challenged. She received her degree in 1992.